Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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MELBOURNE, Australia - Second-seeded Roger Federer started his campaign to equal Pete Sampras’ record 14 Grand Slam titles with a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win Monday over Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open.
Federer has three Australian titles among his 13 majors and lost in the semifinals here last year to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
The 27-year-old Swiss star sealed the first-round win on his fifth match point when the 35th-ranked Seppi of Italy pushed a forehand long.
Earlier, Andy Roddick was nearly perfect, while Serbia’s big three were thrilled just to get through in straight sets.
Roddick, looking sharp and trim, committed just 10 unforced errors in a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win over 31-year-old Swedish qualifier Bjorn Rehnquist.
Defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic started strong then had to rally from service breaks in the last two sets — he was down 4-0 in the third — to oust Andrea Stoppini 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
Second-ranked Roger Federer aimed to take the first step toward tying Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles in a late match against Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Roddick was happy to be first up in Rod Laver Arena as temperatures rose steadily. He sped off in less than two hours, taking advantage of Rehnquist, whose style played right into the seventh-seeded American’s strengths.
“He’s probably not going to do much to kind of blow you off the court,” said Roddick, who lost only nine points in the first set. “But you got to go and execute. I was able to do that.”
But the 21-year-old Serb, now ranked fifth, was bothered by injuries in the middle of the season and her form at the majors waned, going out in the third round at Wimbledon and the second round at the U.S. Open.
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Djokovic lost his first match of the year at Brisbane before getting a wild card for the Sydney International, where he reached the semifinals last week.
“I had a little slow start in the first two weeks, I didn’t play my best tennis,” he said. “Today I was very down in the second and third set, and I turned it around. Hopefully I can get going and get a good result here.”
Roddick’s friend and former housemate Mardy Fish had a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 win over local wild-card entry Samuel Groth, but six other American men made first-round exits.
Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, seeded 20th, beat Robby Ginepri, Dominik Hrbaty downed John Isner, Robert Kendrick lost to No. 16 Robin Soderling of Sweden, Bobby Reynolds was ousted by No. 21 Tommy Robredo of Spain, and Taylor Dent fell to fellow American Amer Delic in five sets.
Sam Querry lost in straight sets to Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Other men advancing were No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 10 David Nalbandian of Argentina, No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, No. 19 Marin Cilic, 2005 champion Marat Safin, 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis and 16-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic in his Grand Slam debut.
Gilles Muller of Luxembourg overcame No. 27 Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 4-6, 16-14 in a 4-hour, 23-minute match.
Russia’s Evgeny Korolev had an upset win over former No. 1-ranked Carlos Moya of Spain, and will likely face Federer in the second round.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
